


Downstream

by ty_schuyler



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Hurt Sam Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 06:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17575934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ty_schuyler/pseuds/ty_schuyler
Summary: Sam and Dean lost the daeva and one of them takes a ride down a waterfall. I’ll give you one guess which one ;)





	Downstream

“Sam!”  
A chill shot through Sam as his body hit the water.  
The current flipped him and the man flailed to steady himself as the rapids pulled him down, adrenaline taking over and head spinning as the blurred blue world swam across his vision. His arms brushed the rocky stream bed but the current bounced him back up.  
The Daeva. He’d left Dean alone with the Daeva.  
A second later a strong grip caught the back of Sam’s jacket and over the roaring in his ears the man caught muffled terror before his head broke the surface and the cold got colder.  
Sam spluttered.  
“Sammy!”  
Nothing made any sense.  
“Dean!”  
Clumsy arms pulled Sam tight as the current cast them downstream, Sam blinking to see his brother’s green eyes widen before the water dragged him under in Sam’s place.  
Sam may have been dazed and confused but knew to latch onto Dean’s arm with every once of strength he had, fumbling as he was tossed from side to side by the water.  
“DEAN!”  
All he could do was pull.  
Beneath his grip Sam felt Dean struggling like they both knew he had zero ability to hold his breath, and as Sam’s back thumped a boulder as they were whisked onwards Dean resurfaced with a gasp.  
“Dean!”  
Sam flicked cold strands of hair from his own eyes and held Dean against his heaving chest, kicking aching legs to keep them afloat as they were washed away - Dean could mock him later, Sam was just too relieved the older man hadn’t drowned.  
“F-Fuck... Sammy!”  
Sam noticed it the same time as Dean.  
So that’s why the roaring water had roared louder.  
“Shit!”  
Sam kicked with newfound adrenaline, his muscles screaming as he reached out and scrabbled to catch ahold of the grassy riverbank. They had to get out. The Daeva might’ve still been around but at least they could outrun that, between gulps of rancid river water and Dean’s inability to swim anymore they were fighting a losing battle in the water.  
Sam’s fingertips caught a tangle of weeds and their bodies were halted as Dean’s ribs took a thump from the side of the banking.  
“Gh-!”  
“Go! Just go!” Sam called as he forced Dean’s body up with every once of strength in his screaming body, and Dean clambered up and out of the stream with what Sam knew was urgency to hoist Sam up next.  
Yet the moment Dean turned the weeds Sam grasped so tightly snapped.  
“Sammy!”  
Sam tumbled down into the water again and pushed up faster that time, a renewed chill in his bones as he threw his arms forwards to no avail. The impossibly loud waterfall caught up with Sam before he could even turn to see it.  
Sam was swept over and down with the air whooshing around him, vision spinning, and a scream erupting from his throat, and Dean’s shrieking cut out as his body hit the bottom.

~

“SAMMY!”  
Dean had never fallen down a hill so fast.  
He had been running, but it had been steep and the mud made him slip most of the way. His clothes were already soaked through and through so at that point it didn’t even matter.  
Nothing else mattered except reaching the edge of the lake.  
“SAM!”  
Dean’s eyes scanned the murky water, yet no shapes were in sight and Sam didn’t have time for this. If he were conscious he’d be up and flailing by then.  
Terror had Dean throw himself into the water.  
He’d never swam so fast in his life, ignoring the stinging gashes on his back left by the Daeva, searching between gasps. He should never have let Sam topple into the stream to begin with, nor should he have let Sam push him out first. Sam should’ve been first priority. He’d practically held them both up in the rapids.  
Dean cursed himself mentally, fear rising up as his eyes caught a dark shape floating away from the waterfall.  
“SAM!”  
A second later and Dean’s aching arms were around a boneless Sam.  
“Goddammit-“ Dean wheezed as he lugged Sam’s head up, his heart sinking at the sight of his brother’s blue lips and pale skin. “You aren’t about to lose to a freaking waterfall, Sammy!”  
Dean had his brother strewn across the bank of pebbles a few moment later, checking a pulse while beginning to press a fist into his sternum to rouse him. Sam had been unconscious longer than Dean could take and finding any signs of life was proving difficult.  
“C’mon, Sammy!” Dean begged, pressing harder against his brother’s sternum. He had to wake up. “Sam!”  
Nothing.  
Then...  
“Kuyck-!”  
Water gushed from Sam’s mouth.  
“There ya go,” Dean heaved, his heart still pounding as he got Sam on his side - a gentle hand carding through dark hair as Sam spluttered. Any other time would’ve been unacceptable to cling to him so tight, but in that moment Dean needed the comfort as much as Sam did. “Easy, easy.”  
“Ngh...!”  
“I know.”  
Dean leaned over so that Sam’s hazel eyes could find his greens, the younger hunter collapsing back into Dean’s chest as he coughed up the last of the river water onto the stones. Between the shivering both brothers couldn’t stop and the fading panic Dean was okay to hold onto Sam for just a little while longer. Seeing him plummet like that had rattled Dean more than he’d like.  
“M’ cold.” Sam said, quivering in Dean’s grip.  
“You and me both brother. C’mon, these rocks are uncomfortable as hell.” Dean said, yet allowed his brother to take a few more rasping breaths before he asked anything else of him. “You alright to stand?”  
Sam nodded, shuddering as Dean hauled him up onto staggering legs, and they began the hobble to the car. Dean’s back stung with the wounds from before but he grit his teeth through the pain.  
“Where’s... the - the Daeva...?” Sam said, a cough erupting from him soon after.  
“Dunno.” Dean said, letting out a chuckle. “Didn’t see it after I heroically saved your life.”  
Sam threw Dean a bitch face, although it devolved into a small smile. “Bite me...”  
“Maybe when you sound less like hammered crap.” Dean said, balancing himself on a tree to get a better grip on Sam’s shoulders. “-and if you get any bigger I’m gonna have to leave you for dead next time.”  
The impala came into view to the relief of Dean’s exhausted muscles, though at the same time Sam sagged more into Dean’s shoulder.  
“You... You w-wouldn’t...”  
“Don’t you go passin’ out on me.” Dean sped up, grunting as Sam struggled to place one foot in front of the other. Dean was starting to regret not checking for injuries. “Hey!”  
“M’okay...”  
Dean let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head. “Yeah, yeah-!”  
A few steps later the pair reached the impala and Dean folded a dazed Sam into the passenger seat, brushing a hand over the back of his head and flinching back when Sam cringed. Dean’s hand came away bloody.  
“Cracked your skull good on the way down that waterfall.” Dean commented, watching Sam slump back with a wheeze. The evening sunlight highlighting his paled skin and it wasn’t doing Dean’s fear any favours. “Stay awake.”  
Sam nodded and Dean ran around the car to slip behind the wheel, driving a little faster out onto the highway. They had been just on the outskirts of the small town they were staying at, and what both of them needed right then was crappy diner food and a lumpy mattress to crash on. And in Sam’s case some medicine wouldn’t hurt - if he wasn’t too stubborn to take the damn stuff.  
Five minutes later buildings finally came into view and Dean stole a glance to Sam who now had his forehead pressed against the window - face turned away from view. Dean had been talking to try and give Sam something to hold onto, but hadn’t had any responses in the last two minutes.  
“You’re freakin’ me out here dude.” Dean swerved through a turn and not even the screeching tires roused Sam, panic quick to claw its way up Dean’s throat again as he gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Shit.”

~

Heat pulled Sam from the brink.  
A heavy warmth spread from Sam’s forehead, settling the dull ache in his brain and making him wonder if this was heaven. If heaven even existed.  
At that point anything was possible, right?  
A small moan escaped Sam’s parted lips, and a moment later his eyelids fluttered.  
“Heya Sammy.”  
If heaven had crumbling beige wallpaper and smelled of damp Sam wasn’t sure he’d been missing out on much.  
“Dean...” Sam rolled his head to see Dean sat on the bed next to his own - shotgun in one hand and a rag in the other. A sight Sam had gotten used to. “When’d we get to the motel...?”  
Dean put the gun down, eyes showing something else even through his smile.  
“Last night dude. You were out for the count, made me think you’d gone brain dead or something.”  
Sam could only imagine Dean waiting around the entire night in his own paranoia, and judging from the dark circles under his eyes Sam knew that had happened. Dean rose from the bed and headed to some plastic bags on the table in the corner.  
“Dean-“  
“Don’t worry, sleeping beauty, the store had soup.” Dean moved around the tiny kitchen like a concerned mother and it almost made Sam laugh. “The perfect cure for taking a beating from Niagara falls.”  
Sam wanted to refuse but his stomach cried out for him to keep quiet, leaving him to watch his brother with lingering guilt. No matter what Dean always ended up bailing Sam out, and there was never anything Sam could do to save himself. Just once he’d like to stop feeling like a burden.  
He found that he couldn’t even push himself into a sitting position.  
“I took care of the Daeva, by the way.”  
It took Sam more than a few seconds to process this, and it took until Dean had the bowl in the microwave before realisation struck. “Wait...What?”  
“It had our scent, it was either gank the thing solo or wait to get shredded.” Dean stirred the pot on the stove like a mother would, like he wasn’t talking about how he’d killed a supernatural creature without backup. Even if he had a point.  
“Wait for me next time-“  
Sam grunted as his arms refused to hold up his weight, mattress springs squeaking as he collapsed back. Dean’s head whipped around.  
“You’re on bedrest until further notice.” He warned, pointing a spoon at Sam like that would intimidate him into agreeing. “No buts.”  
Sam smirked like he wasn’t relieved he could sleep for a few days. Maybe Dean would surrender the remote and they’d watch something other than Spanish soap operas.  
“Bite me.”

**Author's Note:**

> I’ll maybe write a bonus chapter with brotherly love and care just cause. Wrote this in class because I love failing :)))


End file.
